How to Transfer Squarespace to WordPress (2026)

If you want to know how to transfer Squarespace to WordPress, the short answer is that you export an XML file from Squarespace, import it into a fresh WordPress install on your own hosting, rebuild the pieces the export leaves behind, then point or transfer your domain. Most sites under 50 pages take a focused weekend. The part almost nobody plans for is the redirect map, and that’s where rankings quietly disappear.

We handle this migration for customers most weeks, so this guide covers the mechanics plus the cleanup checklist that actually protects your traffic.

What Actually Transfers (and What Doesn’t)

Squarespace gives you one export file in WordPress WXR format. It’s useful, but it is not a full copy of your website. Knowing the gaps up front saves a lot of frustration on day two.

What comes across in the export:

Blog posts with text, authors, publish dates and categories/tags
Basic pages, though only one page per page layout in older Squarespace versions
Text blocks, embed blocks and image blocks in the body content
Gallery pages as image collections (formatting is usually lost)

What does not come across:

Product and store data, including variants, inventory and past orders
Index pages, album pages, event pages and custom form submissions
Design: fonts, colors, spacing, CSS and section layouts
Audio blocks, video blocks and any Squarespace-specific block type
Member areas, courses, subscriptions and email campaign lists

If you run a paid content site, plan to rebuild that layer intentionally on WordPress course hosting with a dedicated LMS plugin rather than hoping the importer handles it. It won’t.

Before You Begin: A 30-Minute Prep List

Do this before you touch the export button. It takes half an hour and prevents the two most common post-migration disasters, which are broken URLs and a dead domain.

Crawl your existing site and save every URL. A free tool like Screaming Frog (500 URL limit) or your Squarespace sitemap at yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml works fine.
Export your top pages report from Google Search Console or Google Analytics 4, covering the last 12 months. Your 20 highest-traffic URLs are the ones that must redirect perfectly.
Screenshot your key page designs so you have a visual reference while rebuilding.
Note your DNS records, especially MX records if email runs through Google Workspace on that domain.
Confirm your domain is older than 60 days at its current registrar. ICANN’s transfer policy locks domains for 60 days after registration or a previous transfer.

Step 1: Export Your Content From Squarespace

In your Squarespace dashboard, go to Settings, then Import / Export, then Export, and choose the WordPress option. If you have several blog pages, Squarespace only exports one of them, so you’ll repeat the export for each blog and pick a different primary blog page each time.

The download is an .xml file, usually between 200 KB and 5 MB. Keep it somewhere safe. If the export button spins for more than ten minutes, refresh and try again; large image libraries sometimes time out.

Step 2: Set Up Hosting and Install WordPress

You need self-hosted WordPress (WordPress.org software on real hosting), not a WordPress.com free plan, if you want plugins, custom themes and full control. Install WordPress on a temporary URL or staging domain so your live Squarespace site keeps running while you build.

Pick a plan that matches what the site does rather than what it costs. A content-heavy publication has different caching and traffic needs than a five-page brochure site, which is why we split things into options like WordPress magazine hosting and hosting built for creatives and portfolios.

Install a theme and get your header, footer and navigation roughly in place before importing. Content lands more cleanly when the structure already exists.

Step 3: Import the XML File

In WordPress, open Tools, then Import, then install and run the WordPress Importer. Upload your XML file, assign the posts to an author, and tick “Download and import file attachments” so images are pulled into your media library.

Two things commonly go wrong here. Files over roughly 8 MB may exceed your upload limit, in which case split the XML or ask support to raise it. And images that fail to import stay hot-linked to Squarespace, which breaks the moment you cancel that account, so check your media library count against the number of images you expected.

Step 4: Build Your Redirect Map (The Step Everyone Skips)

This is where migrations succeed or fail. Squarespace and WordPress use different URL patterns by default, so a post at /blog/my-post can easily become /2024/03/my-post after import.

Set your permalinks first: Settings, then Permalinks, then choose the structure closest to your old URLs. Then compare your saved crawl against the new site and write a 301 redirect for every URL that changed. Google treats 301s as the correct way to consolidate ranking signals to a new URL, and there is no shortcut that works as well.

Old blog URLs often need a prefix change (/blog/ to /, or the reverse)
Squarespace gallery and album pages usually redirect to a new portfolio page
Product URLs map to WooCommerce equivalents one by one
Anything you’re deleting should redirect to the nearest relevant page, not the homepage

A plugin like Redirection handles the list, and it also logs 404s after launch so you can catch what you missed. Expect a small dip for two to four weeks even with clean redirects; that’s normal while Google re-crawls. Our honest look at WordPress and SEO covers what to fix once the dust settles.

Step 5: Rebuild Design and Fix Formatting

Now work through the pages. Budget roughly 10 to 20 minutes per imported blog post for image alignment, headings and internal links, and one to three hours per key landing page.

Typography is usually the first thing clients notice. If your brand relies on a licensed typeface, follow our guide on how to upload a font in WordPress rather than settling for a rough Google Fonts match. Also rebuild forms, add an SEO plugin, and copy over your titles and meta descriptions from the old site.

Step 6: Move the Domain

You have two options, and they are genuinely different.

Point the DNS only: keep the domain registered at Squarespace (now managed through Squarespace Domains) and update the A record and CNAME to your new host. Fastest route, live in 1 to 48 hours.
Transfer the domain: unlock it in Squarespace, request the auth code, then start the transfer at your new registrar. Full transfers take 5 to 7 days in most cases and add a year to the registration.

The same process applies whether you’re moving the domain from Squarespace to WordPress hosting, Cloudflare, GoDaddy, Hostinger or anywhere else: unlock, get the code, authorize, wait. Keep MX records intact so email keeps flowing.

Step 7: Cancel Squarespace (Not Yet)

Wait 30 days after launch. Keep the Squarespace subscription active until your redirects are verified, Search Console shows the new URLs indexed, and your 404 log is quiet. Cancelling early means losing access to any content you didn’t fully migrate.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I keep my domain if I leave Squarespace?

Yes, you keep the domain in every case, as long as it’s more than 60 days old and you registered it yourself. You can either transfer it to another registrar or leave it registered with Squarespace and just repoint the DNS records at your new host.

How long does it take to transfer a domain from Squarespace to WordPress?

A full registrar transfer takes 5 to 7 days, while simply repointing DNS to WordPress hosting propagates in 1 to 48 hours. The content migration itself is the longer job: figure on 4 to 8 hours for a small site and 20 to 40 hours for a 100-page site with a store.

Is it better to use Squarespace or WordPress?

WordPress powers about 43% of all websites because it gives you ownership, 59,000+ plugins and no platform ceiling, while Squarespace is simpler for people who never want to touch settings. If you need custom functionality, memberships, real SEO control or portability, WordPress wins clearly.

How do I transfer my Squarespace website to another website builder?

Squarespace only exports to WordPress WXR format, so moving to Shopify, Wix or Webflow means either manual copying or a third-party import tool. Many people export to WordPress first, then use that XML as a bridge, since most platforms accept the WordPress format.

Want Your Migration Handled For You?

Our team does free migrations on every plan, including the redirect mapping most people would rather not do by hand. Start your WordPress migration and we’ll move the site, test it on staging and switch the domain when you say go.