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WEBSITE BUILDERS · MIGRATION GUIDE

Switching from Squarespace to WordPress

Squarespace does not offer a full site export. Blog content can move through WordPress’s general importer, but the visual design and layout are rebuilt by hand in a WordPress theme.

Quick verdict: Move to WordPress once you want full ownership, portability to any host, or the plugin ecosystem Squarespace does not offer. Budget for choosing a host and theme — you are trading one bill for a stack you assemble and control.

Estimate · your inputs

Switching Cost & Friction Estimator

Most buyers only budget for the new subscription. This estimates the hidden labor, data-cleanup, and retraining cost of actually making the switch.

25,000
10

Estimate assumes: 1 hour of data-mapping/cleaning labor per 2,000 records, a blended $75/hr ops rate, tiered migration & cleaning tooling fees, and 4 hours of retraining per seat at a $45/hr fully-loaded rate.

Estimated Migration Time
Data Friction Rating
Total Hidden Switching Cost $0

    Why teams move from Squarespace to WordPress

    Full ownership and portability

    Move your site to any host, any time.

    60,000+ plugins, 8,000+ themes

    Unlimited customization ceiling.

    No transaction-fee lock-in

    0% via WooCommerce, versus Squarespace Basic’s 2%.

    How the migration actually works

    You lose Squarespace’s single-bill simplicity — hosting, security updates and backups become your responsibility unless you choose managed WordPress hosting.

    StepWhat you do
    1Export what you canExport blog content and pages where a tool exists (WordPress has an importer that reads non-WordPress sites, including Squarespace); images and layout usually need to be re-saved and rebuilt by hand.
    2Choose a WordPress host, install WordPress, and pick a theme — or sign up for WordPress.com Business if you want it hosted for you.Choose a WordPress host, install WordPress, and pick a theme — or sign up for WordPress.com Business if you want it hosted for you.
    3Install a theme and rebuild your layoutRecreate your page layouts using a WordPress theme or page builder plugin, since Squarespace’s proprietary design does not transfer directly.
    4Reconnect your domainPoint your existing domain’s DNS at the new host or platform once the new site is ready to go live.
    5Set up redirectsRedirect old URLs to their new equivalents so existing search rankings and shared links are not lost.
    6Cancel the old planOnce the new site is live and redirects are confirmed working, cancel the old subscription.

    What this path doesn’t do for you:

    Squarespace’s all-in-one simplicity (no separate hosting, no update management) has no WordPress equivalent unless you specifically pay for managed hosting that replicates it.

    Pricing side by side

    PlanSquarespaceWordPress
    Pricing basisPer site, flatSoftware free; hosting/plugins separate
    Entry priceBasic $19/mo (annual)WordPress.com Business $25/mo (annual)
    Site exportNot a full exportFull — files and database portable
    Plugin ecosystemCurated, own library60,000+ plugins, 8,000+ themes
    HostingIncludedBring your own (or WordPress.com hosted)

    Prices checked on each vendor’s pricing page on September 23, 2026. WordPress figures reflect WordPress.com’s hosted plan, used as the closest comparison to a self-hosted setup you would price separately.

    Feature parity check

    CapabilitySquarespaceWordPress
    OwnershipNot a full exportFull, portable
    Plugin ecosystemCurated, own library60,000+ plugins
    HostingIncludedBring your own
    Price$19/mo (Basic)$25/mo (WordPress.com Business equivalent)

    Going the other direction, or want the full comparison first?

    Read the Squarespace vs WordPress comparison Switching from WordPress to Squarespace instead?

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Does WordPress import my Squarespace site automatically?

    WordPress has a general importer that can pull in blog content from non-WordPress sites including Squarespace, but page layout and design are rebuilt by hand in a WordPress theme.

    Will I need to manage hosting myself?

    Yes, unless you choose a managed WordPress host or WordPress.com’s hosted plan, which handles it for you at a price closer to Squarespace’s.

    Do I lose my transaction-fee rate?

    You gain flexibility instead — WooCommerce on self-hosted WordPress charges no platform transaction fee, versus Squarespace Basic’s 2% (0% on Core and above).

    Does my content and design carry over automatically?

    No, in either direction. Text and images move by manual copy or a plugin-assisted import at best; the visual design itself is rebuilt in the new tool’s editor or theme, since neither platform reads the other’s page layouts natively.

    Sources

    Prices on this page were recorded from each vendor’s own pricing page on the date shown at the top of the page. Vendors change pricing often — check the live source before you buy.

    Every figure is also in our open dataset (JSON and CSV, CC BY 4.0), with its source page and verification date. See how we research pricing.

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    Bill Belcamino, founder of HelpCompare
    About the author

    Bill Belcamino

    Founder and author, HelpCompare

    Engineer by training, operator by experience, marketer by choice. Bill spent nine years as an engineer at HP, was COO of Auctiva (the number one third-party selling platform on eBay, past 200,000 users) and ran Google’s $70M/year search syndication partnership at Alot.com. Then he spent 13 years building his own web properties with his own money at stake. He has bought, trialled, integrated and cancelled more SaaS tools than he can count, and started HelpCompare because the real cost of switching tools is the part nobody covers.

    “I’ve sat on both sides of the table: the agency recommending the tool and the client paying for it.”

    Researched and fact-checked by the HelpCompare team. Pricing on this page was last verified on September 23, 2026. No paid sponsorships, no affiliate commissions.