Migrating from Wix to WordPress

Wix is popular for getting a site up quickly, but it has real limitations: Wix says a Wix site has to run on Wix's own servers, so you can't move it to a different host, and customization beyond Wix's own tools is restricted. Moving to WordPress gives you a site you can host anywhere, and far more flexibility.

The honest truth about Wix exports

Wix runs your site as a hosted service, and its help center is direct about what that means: your site "needs to be hosted and operated on Wix's servers", because the technology it is built on does not support external hosting. Wix does offer exports, but they are per-dataset CSV files (products, orders, contacts, CMS collections) rather than your pages. Unlike Squarespace, there is no WordPress-compatible export of the site itself.

Two practical implications:

Page content is migrated using third-party migration tools, or by copying it across page by page.
There is no automated way to transfer your Wix design. It must be rebuilt in WordPress.

The second point matters less than it sounds. Wix's design system and WordPress's design system are completely different, so even a direct export would not look right in WordPress. A clean rebuild gives you a better result.

Your content is yours; the site itself stays on Wix

Wix states that the content you build on Wix belongs to you. What cannot move is the site: hosting is part of the Wix product, so there is no supported way to run a Wix site on another provider. Plan on rebuilding rather than transferring.

What transfers and what doesn't

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What can be migrated

Text content from all pages
Blog posts (text and images)
Media you uploaded yourself, downloaded from the Media Manager
Your domain name (a Wix-registered domain is transferred out if you want it elsewhere)
Your contact list, as a CSV export (the site owner has to run it)
Wix Stores physical products and your order history, as CSV exports

What must be rebuilt

All page layouts and design
Navigation menus
Contact and lead capture forms
Wix App Market integrations
Member areas and logins
Your store setup: shipping, payment and checkout settings
Wix Bookings settings
Any Wix-specific functionality

Realistic timeline

Phase	What happens	Typical duration
Audit	Document every page, blog post, and feature	1 to 2 days
Content extraction	Download images, copy text	1 to 3 days
WordPress setup	Install, configure theme and plugins	1 day
Content rebuild	Recreate pages in WordPress	3 to 7 days
Forms and features	Rebuild contact forms, integrations	1 to 2 days
Redirects	Map old Wix URLs to new WordPress URLs	1 day
Review and QA	Test every page with you	2 to 3 days
Cutover	Update DNS, go live	1 to 4 hours
Post-launch	Monitor, fix issues, submit to Google	2 to 3 days

The migration process, step by step

PrepareAudit the site, get access and extract your content
Build on stagingBuild the new site privately and set up redirects
ReviewYou check every page on the staging site
Go liveUpdate DNS and run post-launch checks

Stage 1 of 4: Prepare

We audit your Wix site. We list every page, blog post, product, and feature. This becomes the scope of what gets rebuilt.

You give us access to your Wix site. In your site's dashboard, go to Settings → Roles & Permissions, click Invite Collaborators, and invite support@chykalophia.com with the Website Manager role, unless your project lead has given you a different address. Wix sites come with one free collaborator seat by default, so you may need to upgrade if that seat is already taken. Exporting your contact list is owner-only, so that part stays with you.

We extract your content. Images are downloaded from your Wix Media Manager. One catch: Wix only lets you download media you uploaded yourself, free Wix and Shutterstock images can't be downloaded, so any of those in your design need replacing or re-licensing. Text is copied page by page. Blog posts may be extracted using a third-party migration tool if volume is high.

Stage 2 of 4: Build on staging

We build the new WordPress site on staging. You don't see a broken site go live. We build and test everything privately before touching your live domain.

We set up your redirects. Wix uses its own URL structure. We map every important Wix page URL to the corresponding new WordPress URL so no traffic or search ranking value is lost.

Stage 3 of 4: Review

You review and approve the staging site. We send you a link to the work-in-progress site. You check every page and send us your notes. We make the changes before going live.

Stage 4 of 4: Go live

We update your domain's DNS settings. Your domain stays the same. We update the settings that tell your domain where to point, switching from Wix's servers to your new WordPress hosting.

Post-launch checks. We submit your sitemap to Google Search Console, check for broken links, and monitor rankings for the first week after launch.

Wix blog migration

If you have a Wix blog with many posts, we can use tools to extract posts in bulk. Each post is imported into WordPress with its original title, date, and text. Images need to be re-uploaded and re-linked manually, which adds time for large blogs.

If you have more than 50 blog posts, let your project lead know early so we can factor the extra time into the timeline.

What about Wix e-commerce?

Wix Stores physical products export to a CSV file from the Product tab in your site's dashboard (More Actions → Export). Two limits to know about: Wix caps the export at 5,000 rows per file, and digital products can't be exported at all, so those are re-entered by hand. We take the CSV and import it into WooCommerce.

Orders export separately, from the Orders tab. You can choose one row per order or one row per item purchased, and pick which columns to include. The data comes out clean enough to keep as a record, but it still needs reshaping before anything in WordPress can use it.

For large stores, a manual product rebuild may be cleaner than attempting a problematic import.

After the migration

Keep your Wix account active (don't cancel or let it lapse) for at least four weeks after launch. This gives you time to:

Confirm all pages and content are correct on the new site
Make sure any Wix-specific links or bookmarks still work via redirects
Export anything you may have missed

After four weeks, you can cancel your Wix site plan. Two things Wix spells out that are easy to miss. Cancelling the site plan does not cancel your domain, business email or app subscriptions: each of those is billed separately and has to be cancelled on its own. And once the plan lapses, your site address reverts to the free Wix address and Wix ads appear on it, so don't cancel while anything still points there.

A Wix-registered domain needs its own transfer

Cancelling your Wix site plan leaves a domain you bought from Wix exactly where it is: still registered with Wix, still billing. If you want it managed elsewhere, transfer it out: Domains in your Wix account, then the domain actions icon, then Transfer away from Wix. Wix emails the transfer authorisation (EPP) code to your registrant contact address, and the transfer itself usually takes up to seven days. Watch the ICANN timing rules too: a domain can't be transferred within 60 days of being registered or transferred, or within 60 days of a change to its registrant contact details. See how to transfer a domain for guidance.

Common questions

Can Wix sites be exported automatically?

Not the site itself. Wix's export tools cover specific datasets as CSV files (products, orders, contacts, CMS collections) plus the media you uploaded yourself, which downloads from the Media Manager. There is no WordPress-compatible export of your pages. Page content is extracted with third-party migration tools or copied across by hand.

Will my URL structure change?

Wix uses its own URL format, and it often doesn't match what we'd create in WordPress. In most cases, some URLs will change. We set up 301 redirects so Google and visitors are automatically sent to the right new page. See Don't lose your SEO during a migration for more detail.

What happens to my Wix email campaigns or forms?

Wix forms and email marketing don't transfer. If you were using Wix forms, we rebuild equivalent forms in WordPress. If you were using Wix email or an integrated marketing tool, we can set up a fresh email marketing account and migrate your subscriber list.

Is it worth moving from Wix to WordPress?

That depends on your goals. WordPress offers far more flexibility, more control over your SEO settings, and a site you can host wherever you like rather than only on Wix's servers. The trade-off is more initial setup time and more ongoing maintenance. Talk to us and we'll walk through the numbers for your specific setup before you commit.

When to call a pro

Platform moves are where sites most often lose search rankings. Missing redirects, changed URLs and dropped page titles can cut your traffic from Google for months.

If any of that sounds risky for your business, book a free call and we'll tell you whether you need help. Clients can email support@chykalophia.com.