Squarespace is one of the most polished hosted website builders available, and plenty of businesses run happily on it for years. Others reach a point where they want more control, a specific plugin, or a content structure Squarespace does not support, and start looking at WordPress. This guide looks at Squarespace honestly from a WordPress perspective, then walks through a migration using Squarespace’s built-in WordPress export: what transfers, what does not, and how to keep your search traffic with redirects.
What Squarespace does well
It is worth being clear about why people choose Squarespace in the first place, because those reasons should inform whether you move at all.
- Design quality out of the box. Squarespace templates are consistently well designed, with strong typography and image handling. It is hard to make a Squarespace site look broken.
- One subscription covers everything. Hosting, SSL, security patches, backups of the platform and software updates are handled for you. There is nothing to update and no server to maintain.
- Built-in tools. Commerce, appointment scheduling, email campaigns and member areas are available as first-party features or add-ons rather than third-party plugins.
- Single point of support. If something breaks, there is one company to contact.
For a photographer, a restaurant or a consultant with a ten-page site and no plans for complex features, those strengths often outweigh anything WordPress offers. Our WordPress vs Squarespace comparison covers the head-to-head in more depth.
Where Squarespace limits you
The same all-in-one design that makes Squarespace easy also sets its boundaries:
- Extensibility. Squarespace has extensions and code injection, but nothing like the tens of thousands of plugins in the WordPress directory. Custom post types, complex relational content or a bespoke membership model are difficult or impossible.
- No server access. You cannot run your own code on the server, choose your host, or tune caching beyond what the platform offers.
- Content structure. Large publications with many sections, authors and taxonomies tend to outgrow Squarespace’s blog model.
- Portability. The export is partial, as you will see below. Leaving is possible but not seamless.
WordPress trades those limits for responsibility. You choose and pay for hosting, keep themes and plugins updated, and own your backups. If that trade sounds worthwhile, read on.
What the Squarespace WordPress export includes
Squarespace can export a site as a WordPress-compatible XML file (the WXR format that the WordPress Importer reads). That is the backbone of the migration, but it only carries part of a site. Squarespace documents the details in an article on exporting your site in the Squarespace Help Center, and the rules change over time, so read the current version before you start. In general terms:
| Usually exports | Usually does not export |
|---|---|
| Basic pages and their text, image and embed content | Your design, template, fonts and custom CSS |
| One blog page, with its posts, categories, tags and comments | Additional blog pages beyond the first |
| Gallery content in a simplified form | Product, event and album pages, plus many block types |
| Image references | Form submissions, member areas, scheduling and email campaign data |
Commerce data needs separate handling. Squarespace lets you export products and orders as CSV files from the Commerce area, and you can then import products into WooCommerce with its built-in CSV product importer, after mapping the columns. Expect to tidy variants and images by hand.
Step-by-step: moving from Squarespace to WordPress
1. Inventory the old site
Before touching anything, list every URL on your Squarespace site. Your sitemap at yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml is a good starting point. Note which pages get the most traffic in your analytics. This list becomes your redirect map and your checklist for content that did not export.
2. Set up WordPress on a temporary address
Install WordPress with your new host, on a temporary or staging domain the host provides. Your Squarespace site stays live on your real domain until the new site is ready. Set Settings → Permalinks before importing; “Post name” is the usual choice.
3. Export from Squarespace
In Squarespace, open the Import & Export panel in your site settings (the exact menu location has moved between Squarespace versions), choose Export, and select WordPress. When the export finishes, download the XML file.
4. Import into WordPress
- Go to Tools → Import.
- Under WordPress, click Install Now, then Run Importer. This installs the official WordPress Importer plugin.
- Upload the XML file.
- Assign authors to an existing user or create new ones.
- Tick “Download and import file attachments” and run the import.
If the import times out on a large site, run it again; the importer skips items that already exist. Your host’s support can also raise PHP time limits temporarily.
5. Bring images home
This is the step people miss. Images embedded inside imported posts and pages often still point at Squarespace’s image servers rather than your media library. They display fine today and may stop working after you cancel your Squarespace plan. Check a few posts by viewing the image URL. If they are external, either use a plugin that imports external images into the media library, or re-upload them manually and replace them in the editor. The media management guide has tips on keeping the library organized as you do this.
6. Rebuild what did not transfer
Work through your inventory. Imported pages arrive as plain content, often in a Classic block; convert them to blocks with the “Convert to blocks” option and clean up the layout. Recreate forms with a form plugin, rebuild products in WooCommerce, and add any extra blog pages by hand or by copying posts into a new category.
Recreating your design in WordPress
Your Squarespace template does not come with you, so this is a chance to choose deliberately. A block theme gives you a visual Site Editor that will feel familiar to Squarespace users: you edit headers, footers and templates by clicking on them, and set global colors and fonts in one Styles panel. Browse the free directory or a specialist catalogue such as the StepFox themes if you run a magazine or sports site. Match your existing brand colors and fonts first, then improve layouts once the content is in place.
Resist the temptation to redesign everything during the migration. Changing platform, URLs and design at once makes it hard to tell what caused any drop in traffic.
Redirects: protecting your Squarespace search traffic
Squarespace and WordPress structure URLs differently. Squarespace blog posts typically live under the blog page’s slug, such as /blog/my-post, and sometimes include dates, while WordPress with “Post name” permalinks uses /my-post/. Every old URL that changes needs a permanent 301 redirect to its new equivalent, or you lose the links and rankings it built up.
- Install a redirect plugin such as Redirection, or use the redirect feature in your SEO plugin.
- Add one redirect per changed URL from your inventory, or a pattern rule if a whole section moved the same way (for example,
/blog/(.*)to/$1). - Map image-heavy gallery and product pages to their closest equivalents rather than the homepage.
- Test each top-traffic URL in a private browser window after launch.
An alternative is to set WordPress permalinks to match the old structure, for example a custom structure of /blog/%postname%/, which avoids most post redirects altogether.
Switching the domain
When the new site is ready, point your domain at your WordPress host. If the domain is registered through Squarespace, you can either update its DNS records to your new host or transfer the registration to another registrar. Lower the DNS TTL a day beforehand so the change spreads faster, and keep the Squarespace subscription active for a short overlap period in case you need to copy anything you missed. After the switch, submit your new sitemap in Google Search Console and watch the coverage reports for 404 errors.
The process is very similar to leaving other hosted builders; if you also manage a Wix site, the Wix to WordPress guide follows the same pattern.
Frequently asked questions
Will my Squarespace design transfer to WordPress?
No. The export contains content, not design. You will choose a WordPress theme and recreate the look with its styling tools.
Can I move a Squarespace store to WooCommerce?
Yes, but not through the XML export. Export products as CSV from Squarespace, import them with WooCommerce’s product CSV importer, and then check variants, images and prices. Payment gateways and shipping rules must be set up fresh.
How long does a Squarespace migration take?
A small brochure site with a blog can be moved in a day or two. Most of the time goes on rebuilding layouts, re-hosting images and setting redirects, not on the import itself. Stores and sites with many blog pages take longer.
Key takeaways
- Squarespace is a strong choice for simple, design-led sites; move only if you need WordPress’s flexibility.
- The Squarespace WordPress export carries basic pages and one blog, not design, products or most special page types.
- Import with Tools → Import → WordPress, then check that images live in your media library.
- Handle products separately through CSV export and WooCommerce’s importer.
- Build a URL inventory first and use it to set 301 redirects before switching the domain.
