Jul 04, 2025·8 min
Wix/Squarespace Migration: When to Switch and How to Win
Learn when moving from Wix or Squarespace makes sense, what it costs, and a step-by-step migration checklist to protect SEO, design, and content.
Learn when moving from Wix or Squarespace makes sense, what it costs, and a step-by-step migration checklist to protect SEO, design, and content.
A “migration” from Wix or Squarespace isn’t a single button-click. It’s a coordinated move of several parts—some transfer cleanly, and some need to be rebuilt.
Content: Pages, blog posts, product listings, and basic text can often be exported or copied, but formatting and blocks rarely match 1:1.
Design: You’re typically recreating the look and feel (layout, typography, components) rather than literally “moving the theme.” Think of it as rebuilding the house using the same floor plan.
Domain and email: Your domain may stay with its current registrar, or you may transfer it. Either way, DNS changes are part of launch. Email (Google Workspace/Microsoft 365) usually stays put, but records must be preserved.
SEO: URLs, titles, meta descriptions, headings, internal links, image alt text, and redirects need a plan. The goal is to keep search visibility steady while the site changes underneath.
Features and integrations: Forms, booking, members areas, ecommerce, analytics, CRM, and custom scripts must be replicated (or improved) on the new platform.
Ask two questions:
What’s hurting you right now? Examples: limited SEO control, slow editing workflow, ecommerce constraints, design limits, or hard-to-maintain integrations.
What will switching unlock? Examples: better performance, advanced marketing tools, cleaner content management, more flexible design, or lower long-term costs.
If the current pain is minor and the benefits are unclear, a migration may be premature. If the pain is ongoing and the new platform directly solves it, the effort is usually justified.
Most Wix/Squarespace migrations go to WordPress (content flexibility), Webflow (design control with a managed feel), Shopify (ecommerce focus), or a custom build (unique requirements).
Some rebuild is normal. Not every widget, template element, or app can be “moved” exactly. A successful migration focuses on outcomes: same (or better) content, cleaner structure, preserved SEO, and features that work reliably on day one.
Sometimes a Wix migration or Squarespace migration isn’t about “wanting something new”—it’s about removing friction that’s slowing the business down. If you recognize the patterns below, moving platforms can be the faster path than patching around limits.
If every change turns into workarounds (fighting section rules, spacing quirks, or mobile layouts), you’re paying a “template tax.” A move from Wix or a move from Squarespace makes sense when you need reusable design components, cleaner page structure, and the ability to scale new pages without redesigning each one.
Switching is worth it when key features are either unavailable or awkward to maintain—think memberships, advanced forms, custom fields, booking logic, or integrations with your CRM/marketing stack. If you’re relying on multiple apps that don’t quite talk to each other, the “site rebuild vs migration” decision often leans toward migration plus a tighter, more integrated setup.
If you’re chasing faster load times or better Core Web Vitals and you’ve already compressed images, cleaned up pages, and removed unnecessary add-ons—but results plateau—platform constraints may be the bottleneck. Better performance can mean more conversions, not just nicer scores.
A platform switch can be justified when you need stronger control over URLs, structured data, redirects, and content architecture—especially if you’re expanding into lots of landing pages or a content library. This is where an SEO migration plan and a website migration checklist protect rankings while you move.
If publishing requires one person to do everything, or you lack roles, approvals, and staging, growth gets blocked. A platform with clearer permissions and an editorial process reduces errors and speeds up launches.
Migration is often the right move—but not always the right next move. If your current Wix or Squarespace site is doing its job, switching platforms can add cost and risk without a clear payoff.
If your website is small, loads fine, and reliably brings in leads or sales, a migration may be a distraction. Many businesses don’t need a more flexible stack; they need clearer messaging, better pages, and consistent updates.
If you rarely update content and don’t expect to add major features (membership, advanced SEO tooling, custom checkout flows, complex integrations), your current platform might be “good enough” for another year.
A proper move involves planning, rebuilding key templates, migrating content, and validating SEO. If you’re in a busy season, it can be smarter to schedule improvements that deliver faster ROI now (homepage rewrite, service page cleanup, speed tweaks), then revisit a move later.
Often the real problem is execution, not the platform. You may be able to resolve pain points with:
If you rely on platform-specific apps or extensions—booking, forms, member areas, payments—confirm there are equivalent tools elsewhere before you commit. Otherwise, you may end up rebuilding workflows from scratch.
If you decide to pause the move, still document what’s not working. That list becomes your requirements later, and it will make your eventual /blog/website-migration-checklist far easier to execute.
Your best destination depends less on “Wix vs Squarespace” and more on what your site needs to do next: publish, sell, rank in search, or support custom features.
Start with these practical checks:
Marketing site (lead gen, service business): Webflow or WordPress
Blog / content publishing: WordPress or Ghost
Online store: Shopify (or WooCommerce if you want WordPress)
Portfolio / lightweight brochure site: Webflow, Framer, or WordPress with a clean theme
If SEO is a priority, put redirect support and URL control at the top of your shortlist—those two details often decide whether a move protects rankings or hurts them.
If you’re choosing a custom build because you’ve outgrown Wix/Squarespace but don’t want months of traditional development, a vibe-coding approach can be a middle path. For example, Koder.ai lets teams create web apps through a chat interface (React front end, Go + PostgreSQL back end), then export source code, deploy, and iterate with snapshots/rollback. It’s especially useful when your “migration” includes custom logic (advanced forms, member flows, internal tools) rather than just pages.
Before you touch design or SEO settings, get a clear picture of what you actually have. Most migration headaches happen because something “small” (a hidden landing page, an old PDF, a form integration) is discovered after the rebuild is underway.
Start with a master list (a spreadsheet is fine) and capture:
Also list what must be recreated because it won’t transfer cleanly: booking tools, multilingual setups, memberships/logins, custom scripts, and automations.
Export or crawl your site and record every URL you can find, including:
This becomes your redirect map later, and it protects both SEO and user experience.
Download benchmarks so you can verify you didn’t lose ground after the move:
Create a folder with original images, videos, PDFs, logo files, fonts, color codes, and any copy that lives inside widgets (announcement bars, popups, footers). If you can’t easily re-download something later, treat it as “must-backup.”
A Wix migration or Squarespace migration can be great for your business—until traffic drops because Google can’t find your pages anymore. The goal is simple: make the new site look “familiar” to search engines, even if it’s built on a different platform.
Export or crawl your current site and list every indexable URL (pages, blog posts, products, categories). Then decide what each URL becomes on the new site.
If you delete a page, don’t redirect everything to the homepage. Redirect to the closest equivalent page, or serve a clean 404 if there truly isn’t a relevant replacement.
Redirects are the difference between a successful “move from Wix” and watching your best pages disappear from search.
Create a redirect spreadsheet with three columns: Old URL → New URL → Notes. Then implement redirects in your new platform (or at the server level if you have that control). Test them on a staging site first.
Even if the design changes, keep your proven SEO signals consistent wherever possible.
Pay special attention to top-traffic pages and posts. If you’re redesigning, keep the primary topic and intent intact—avoid turning a focused service page into a generic marketing page.
Before switching DNS, confirm the new site is crawlable and self-consistent.
Also verify:
A careful SEO migration plan takes time, but it’s usually the cheapest way to protect rankings while you rebuild and grow.
Content is usually the most time-consuming part of a Wix migration or Squarespace migration—not because it’s hard, but because different platforms store content differently. The good news: most “core” content can be moved, even if the process isn’t always one-click.
Blog posts and basic pages usually transfer well at the text level. Squarespace offers exports geared toward common CMS formats, while Wix exports are often more limited—expect to export structured data (when available) and then rebuild formatting.
Products and store data are often exportable via CSV (products, variants, prices, SKUs). That’s a solid starting point for re-importing into Shopify, WooCommerce, or another platform. Order history and customer accounts may be partial or require separate exports.
You’ll generally choose between:
A practical approach is “automate the database, manually rebuild the presentation.” That keeps the move fast without sacrificing quality.
Media rarely transfers perfectly. Plan to:
Expect to rebuild elements like tables, buttons, and multi-column sections, especially if they were created with a visual editor. Also check:
Before moving content, decide what matters to keep:
If you treat content migration as a controlled rebuild (not a blind copy), you’ll end up with cleaner pages, lighter media, and fewer SEO surprises.
A migration is a chance to keep what’s working visually and functionally—without dragging over every old workaround. The goal isn’t a pixel-perfect clone. It’s a familiar experience for visitors, built with cleaner building blocks so future updates are easier.
Start by rebuilding a small set of page templates that represent 80% of your site. For most businesses, that’s:
Once these look right, the remaining pages become fast variations instead of one-off designs.
Lock in your brand “system” first: typography, colors, spacing, and reusable components (buttons, cards, callouts, form fields). When those basics are consistent, the site will feel like your brand even if some layout details change.
Create a simple component set you can reuse across pages:
List your must-have features and rebuild them intentionally rather than trying to replicate every plugin or widget.
Common “critical” features to confirm early:
If a feature existed only because of a platform limitation (for example, extra pages to simulate navigation), it may be unnecessary on the new platform.
Build accessibility in from the start, because retrofitting later is slow and error-prone.
Focus on the basics:
Before you move on, write down the rules you just set—fonts, colors, button styles, spacing, and how to use key components. Even a one-page style guide keeps future edits consistent and prevents the design from drifting as more people touch the site.
A smooth Wix or Squarespace migration is less about “moving files” and more about running a small project with clear steps, owners, and a predictable changeover. The goal is to avoid last-minute surprises—especially around navigation, SEO, and DNS.
Big bang launch means you rebuild the entire site, then switch everything over in one go. It’s faster and simpler to communicate, but it concentrates risk into launch day.
Phased rollout moves sections over gradually (for example, blog first, then services, then ecommerce). It reduces risk and lets you learn as you go, but requires tighter tracking to avoid duplicate or conflicting pages.
Start by locking in your site map, URL structure, and navigation. If you import or rewrite content too early, you’ll end up reorganizing it multiple times. Confirm what pages exist, what pages will be merged/removed, and what the new menu will look like.
Create a staging environment (a private preview site) where the rebuild happens safely. Then schedule a content freeze window—a short period when no one edits the old site—so you don’t miss new updates, blog posts, or product changes right before launch.
Give each workstream a clear owner: SEO, content, design/features, QA, and domain/DNS. Keep a shared website migration checklist (one doc) where you record decisions like redirects, page removals, form destinations, and launch tasks. This avoids “Who approved this?” moments later.
Most small-to-mid sites take 2–6 weeks: 1 week planning/structure, 1–3 weeks rebuild + content, 1 week QA and fixes, then launch + post-launch monitoring.
This is the part of a Wix migration or Squarespace migration where people accidentally break the things that aren’t “the website” — like email, tracking, and logins. The good news: with a simple plan, you can switch cleanly with little to no downtime.
You have two main options when you move from Wix or move from Squarespace:
For most migrations, start by pointing DNS. You can always transfer later once everything is stable.
Email is controlled by MX records, not by your website platform. Before changing anything:
If you overwrite DNS without recreating these records, email can stop delivering.
Beyond A/AAAA records for the site and MX for email, many businesses rely on:
Before cutover, list every integration you need to re-check: analytics, ad pixels, CRM/forms, scheduling tools, and payment providers.
On the new platform, confirm:
A simple way to reduce downtime is to lower DNS TTL (time-to-live) 24–48 hours before switching. That makes DNS changes propagate faster.
Plan a cutover window when traffic is lowest, then validate the essentials right after: homepage loads, key forms work, checkout works (if applicable), and email is still sending/receiving.
Launch day is less about “flipping the switch” and more about confirming that the new site behaves like the old one (or better) in every place visitors and search engines touch it. Use this checklist to catch the most common migration misses before they become support tickets.
Start with real user paths—don’t just click around your homepage.
Don’t try to validate every URL manually. Instead:
Expect small fluctuations. What matters is trend and errors.
A Wix or Squarespace migration isn’t “one price.” It’s a bundle of small projects that add up—so it helps to budget by buckets rather than guess a single number.
Timeline usually depends on:
A small brochure site can be a weekend DIY project; a content-heavy or ecommerce site can take weeks once you include revisions and testing.
DIY works if you have time, can follow a checklist, and the site is simple. Hiring help pays off when rankings and revenue matter—mistakes like broken redirects, missing metadata, or checkout issues can cost more than the project.
If you’re rebuilding as part of the migration, consider how you’ll iterate after launch. Platforms like Koder.ai can help teams ship faster (and keep momentum) by generating the new app structure from chat, supporting planning mode, and letting you export the source code when you’re ready to own the stack.
If you want a quick estimate, share your inventory and goals via /contact or compare options on /pricing.
Project goal:
Current platform (Wix/Squarespace):
New platform:
Pages to migrate (count + key URLs):
Blog posts (count):
Ecommerce? (products/SKUs/variants):
Must-have features (forms, booking, members, etc.):
Integrations (email/CRM/payments):
SEO requirements (redirects, metadata, analytics):
Design notes (keep similar vs redesign):
Target launch date:
Who provides copy/images:
Who approves and how fast:
It’s a coordinated rebuild that typically includes:
Think “rebuild with continuity,” not “export/import everything perfectly.”
You’re ready when the platform limits are creating ongoing business friction, for example:
If the pain is minor and benefits are vague, you’ll usually get better ROI from improving the current site first.
The most common destinations and what they’re best for:
Choose based on what the site must do next (publish, rank, sell, integrate), not just “Wix vs Squarespace.”
Start by listing what’s hurting you now and what the new platform must unlock. Then pressure-test:
Create a site inventory before you design anything:
This inventory becomes your build scope and your redirect plan later.
Export/crawl every accessible URL, including:
Then build a redirect map: Old URL → New URL → Notes. This is one of the biggest predictors of whether rankings hold after launch.
A practical plan:
After launch, submit the sitemap and monitor errors/404s in your search tools for a few weeks.
Usually, data transfers better than layouts:
Plan to “automate the database, manually rebuild the presentation,” especially for custom layouts, tables, buttons, and multi-column sections.
Treat domain cutover as a separate checklist:
If you’re unsure, screenshot/export your current DNS zone before making changes.
Most small-to-mid migrations land in the 2–6 week range depending on pages, complexity, and approvals. Effort grows quickly with:
If you want to scope it properly, start with an inventory and a checklist (see /blog/website-migration-checklist), then decide whether to DIY or get help via /contact and /pricing.
If SEO matters, prioritize URL control and reliable 301 redirect support.