You cannot export a finished site from Wix - but you can move everything in it that is genuinely valuable and put it on a foundation that finally belongs to you. I am saying this at the start because it is the most important thing in the whole subject, and I would rather you heard it from me than after signing with someone who promised a “one-click migration”. There is no such click. There is a sensible relocation plan - and that is what this text is about.
We will go through it in order: why companies outgrow Wix in the first place, what you can realistically take with you, what happens to Google, how the move goes step by step and - honestly - when you are better off staying where you are.
Wix or WordPress - where the idea of moving comes from
Wix is great at the start: you click, you drag, the site stands the same day. Problems begin when the company grows and the site is supposed to start working for it. That is when Wix’s limits show up:
- A subscription every month, forever. You are not buying a site, you are renting it. Stop paying and the site disappears. After a few years the sum of those fees exceeds the cost of your own site, and you still own nothing
- The site lives on someone else’s platform. You cannot move it to different hosting, hand it to a different developer or look inside the code. You are tied to one supplier and their price list
- Limited technical SEO and integrations. Some things that are standard in WordPress - full control over URLs, structured data, speed, connecting any system you like - are impossible or heavily cut down in Wix
WordPress on your own hosting is the opposite model: the files, database and code are yours, you choose the hosting yourself and you can change developer at any moment. I compared builders with your own site more broadly in the piece on what a website costs - there is a whole section there on when a builder pays off and when it starts holding you back.
Exporting a site from Wix - the honest bit you have to start with
Here I have to pour a bucket of cold water: there is no site export from Wix. The design, subpage layout and settings cannot be downloaded or moved automatically - Wix simply does not offer it. That is not a developer’s shortcoming or an excuse, it is a platform limit that applies to everyone.
What does realistically move:
- Text - copied by hand, subpage by subpage
- Photos and graphics - downloaded from the site (ideally at original quality, if you have the source files yourself)
- Blog posts - partly pullable through the RSS feed, the rest moved by hand
- The domain - it is yours and it comes with you (as long as it is registered in your name - worth checking before the start)
The site itself gets built from scratch on WordPress. And despite appearances that is often an advantage: instead of copying a layout from years ago, it gets designed around what the company is today.
Squarespace to WordPress - the same principle
Squarespace is slightly more generous - it lets you export some content (mainly blog posts) to a file WordPress can import. But the design and page layout stay on the platform too. So a move from Squarespace to WordPress looks almost identical to one from Wix: we take the content, we build the site anew, the domain comes with us.
Will I lose my Google rankings after leaving Wix
This is the question I hear most often, and the answer is: you do not have to, but only on one condition. In a move the subpage addresses change - Wix has its own link format, WordPress has its own. If the old addresses suddenly start returning an error, Google treats it as the site disappearing.
That is why an obligatory part of the move is mapping old addresses to new ones and 301 redirects - every old link has to lead to the new place. The domain stays the same, so Google sees the same site under the same sign, just better organised. It is exactly the principle I described for migration without losing rankings - different platform, identical mechanics.
The relocation plan step by step
- A content inventory - a list of every subpage, text, photo and blog post; along the way it becomes clear what to throw out and what is missing
- Building the new site on WordPress - at a separate working address; the whole time Wix keeps running normally and nobody notices anything
- A redirect map - old address to new address, for every subpage Google knows about
- Repointing the domain - the domain starts pointing at the new site, the redirects go live
- Checks after launch - verifying that all the old links lead to the right places, that forms send and that nothing was lost
What helps: cancel the Wix subscription only AFTER repointing the domain and confirming everything works - not before. As long as you are paying, you have a working old site as a lifeline. Cancel too early and if something goes wrong, there is nothing to go back to.
When it is honest to stay on Wix
Not every site needs a move. If you have a simple brochure page - address, phone, a few photos - with no ambitions around search visibility, a blog or integrations, and the only thing bothering you is the subscription itself, then the cost of moving may simply not hold up. Wix is just meant to exist, and it does.
The move makes sense when the site is supposed to work for the company: bring in customers from search, grow with new content, connect to other systems. Then every month on a platform with a ceiling is a month lost.
What it costs and how I work
Moving off Wix is in practice building a new site plus transferring content and setting up redirects. Rough market reality for a new WordPress site is around 4,000-15,000 PLN - that is not a price list, just the range most sensible quotes fall into. I settle projects like this fixed-bid: usually around 5,000-10,000 PLN net, and you get the specific figure in writing before the start - no surprises along the way. More about how I work on building websites is on the offer page.
To start I do a free diagnosis: I look at your Wix, note what needs moving and tell you outright whether the move makes sense in your case.
Frequently asked questions
Can a site be moved from Wix to WordPress? The content yes - text, photos, blog posts and the domain. The design and layout no, because Wix does not provide a site export; that part gets built anew on WordPress.
Will I lose Google rankings after leaving Wix? No, provided the move includes mapping the old addresses and 301 redirects, and the domain stays the same. Without redirects the risk is real - which is why it is a mandatory point in the plan, not an option.
Can I take my domain from Wix? Yes, the domain is yours and it comes with you. It is just worth checking before the start that it is registered in your name and not a third party’s.
How long does moving a site from Wix take? That depends on the number of subpages and the amount of content, but we are talking weeks, not months. Throughout the build the old site keeps running normally, so nothing is chasing you.
Need something like this on your side? I design and build websites for B2B companies - from scratch or as a rebuild of what already stands. Send me the scope and a quote with a date comes back.