How to Migrate From Squarespace to WordPress?

Why You Should Migrate from Squarespace to WordPress

While Squarespace is widely praised for its ease of use and clean templates, its simplicity can become a limitation as your website grows. Users often find restrictions in areas such as customization options, plugin availability, and SEO flexibility. For instance, advanced features like multilingual support, complex eCommerce functionalities, or custom integrations are not as straightforward to implement on Squarespace.

In contrast, WordPress stands out as an open-source platform that powers over 40% of all websites worldwide, reflecting its reliability and scalability. It gives website owners full control over design, functionality, and hosting. With access to thousands of themes and plugins, as well as robust developer support, WordPress allows businesses, bloggers, and eCommerce stores to expand without being boxed in by platform limits. This makes it a future-proof choice for websites that anticipate growth and evolving requirements.

If you’re asking yourself “Should I switch from Squarespace to WordPress?”, here’s what you need to consider from a long-term perspective:

Greater Customization

Squarespace provides well-designed templates, but customization is limited to what the platform allows. WordPress, on the other hand, offers access to over 60,000 plugins and thousands of themes, giving you control over design, functionality, and user experience. From advanced forms and multilingual sites to completely custom layouts, WordPress gives you the freedom to build a site that fits your exact vision—something Squarespace just can’t match.

Full Ownership of Your Content

With Squarespace, your site lives entirely on their hosted platform. That means if they change their features, pricing, or policies, you’re limited in how much control you have. WordPress works differently—it’s self-hosted. You own your files, database, and hosting, giving you full independence and peace of mind. In other words, your website’s future isn’t locked to a single provider.

Here’s why full ownership in WordPress matters:

• Portability: Move your website to any hosting provider without restrictions.
• Data control: Access your database and files directly, ensuring you always have a backup.
• Scalability: Upgrade hosting, add custom code, or expand features without platform-imposed limitations.
• Monetization freedom: Run ads, memberships, or integrations without worrying about platform rules.
• Long-term stability: Your site’s growth won’t depend on one company’s business decisions.

👉 This independence makes WordPress a stronger long-term choice for businesses and creators who want security, flexibility, and control.

Advanced SEO Capabilities

Getting found online is key to growth. Squarespace covers the basics of SEO, but WordPress—especially with plugins like Yoast SEO or Rank Math—takes things much further. Many of our customers have had similar experiences with SEO, doing SEO on WordPress is much easier and more customizable than Squarespace. You can fine-tune everything from URL structure and metadata to schema markup, internal links, and content hierarchy. That level of control makes a big difference when you’re trying to compete in search results or expand into new markets.

Here’s what makes WordPress SEO stand out:

• Customizable permalinks: Control your URL structure for better readability and keyword optimization.
• Advanced metadata editing: Easily set unique titles, descriptions, and tags for every page and post.
• Schema markup integration: Add structured data to boost rich snippets in search results.
• Image optimization: Use plugins to compress images, add alt text, and generate sitemaps for better ranking.
• Content hierarchy: Organize categories, tags, and internal linking to strengthen topical authority.
• Multilingual SEO: Optimize for global audiences with translation and hreflang support.

👉 For businesses serious about visibility, WordPress simply offers more tools and flexibility to scale organic traffic over time.

eCommerce Flexibility

Squarespace Commerce works well if you’re only selling a handful of products, but it can quickly feel limiting as your store grows. WordPress pairs with WooCommerce to give you far more options, whether that’s selling digital downloads, offering subscriptions, or even running a full multi-vendor marketplace. You also get advanced tools for payments, taxes, and shipping, which are often essential once a business starts scaling.

Here’s why WooCommerce + WordPress outshines Squarespace for eCommerce:

• Product variety: Sell physical goods, digital products, memberships, subscriptions, or services all from one platform.
• Payment flexibility: Accept payments via PayPal, Stripe, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or hundreds of localized gateways.
• Tax and shipping automation: Integrate tools that handle global tax rules, real-time shipping rates, and fulfillment.
• Inventory management: Track stock levels, set variations (size, color, bundle), and automate alerts.
• Scalability: Expand into B2B, wholesale pricing, or multi-vendor marketplaces without rebuilding your site.
• Marketing integrations: Connect with email platforms, social ads, and CRM systems to drive sales and retention.

👉 While Squarespace is fine for simple stores, WooCommerce with WordPress grows with your business, offering enterprise-level flexibility without locking you into a closed system.

Cost Efficiency with Scalability

Squarespace runs on fixed pricing plans, which means you might end up paying more once your site needs features outside of your plan. With WordPress, you get to pick your own hosting, themes, and plugins—so you only pay for what you actually use. For many site owners, that flexibility not only lowers ongoing costs but also frees up budget to invest in areas that drive growth, like marketing or SEO.

Here’s how WordPress keeps costs efficient while scaling:

• Flexible hosting choices: Start with affordable shared hosting and upgrade to VPS or cloud as your traffic grows.
• Wide theme options: Choose from thousands of free and premium themes, instead of paying a fixed design fee.
• Pay-as-you-grow plugins: Add premium features only when you need them, rather than being tied to a plan.
• No revenue limits: Unlike some platforms, WordPress doesn’t charge transaction fees or cap your sales volume.
• Control over expenses: Optimize spending by choosing open-source tools and avoiding unnecessary add-ons.

👉 WordPress adapts to your budget and business size—something Squarespace’s one-size-fits-all pricing can’t match.

Global Community and Support

WordPress powers more than 40% of all websites worldwide, backed by an enormous ecosystem of developers, agencies, and communities. That scale translates into countless resources—tutorials, forums, plugins, and regular security updates—making it easier to keep your site secure and up to date. Squarespace, by comparison, relies mainly on its in-house support team and documentation. Many of our customers tell us they feel more confident with WordPress because there’s always a solution, expert advice, or community resource available when they need it.

Here’s why WordPress support is unmatched:

• Massive community forums: Get quick answers from millions of users and contributors around the world.
• Professional help: Hire experienced developers, agencies, or freelancers for any level of customization.
• Abundant tutorials: Access free and paid resources, video walkthroughs, and step-by-step guides.
• Plugin and theme support: Most premium tools come with dedicated support teams to help troubleshoot issues
• Frequent updates: A global contributor base ensures WordPress stays secure, fast, and compatible with the latest web standards.
• Local meetups and WordCamps: In-person and online events create opportunities to learn, network, and get direct support.

👉 With WordPress, you’re never alone, there’s always a community or expert ready to help, unlike the closed, limited support structure of Squarespace.

How to Migrate from Squarespace to WordPress (Step-by-Step)

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of migrating from Squarespace to WordPress step by step. These are best practices that we’ve seen work through countless migrations, ensuring your transition is as structured, reliable, and as painless as possible.

To ensure a safe, accurate, and data-integrity-free migration from Squarespace to WordPress, prepare the following:

• Admin access to both your Squarespace and WordPress sites. If you don’t have a WordPress site yet, set it up before starting the migration.
• A Laptop/PC with a browser and a stable internet connection.
• Up-to-date, error-free versions of Squarespace and WordPress to avoid issues during data extraction and import.
• Backup Squarespace before performing any actions in this guide.

Once everything is ready, follow these 5 main steps to switch from Squarespace to WordPress:

• Step 1: Prepare for The Migration
• Step 2: Export Data from Squarespace
• Step 3: Import Data into WordPress
• Step 4: Set Up Your Domain & Set Up 301 Redirects
• Step 5: Optimize Your New WordPress Site

Let’s go through the details step by step:

Step 1: Prepare for The Migration

Proper preparation is the single most important factor in ensuring a smooth migration from Squarespace to WordPress. Many of the common issues such as broken links, missing images, or SEO drops happen when this step is rushed or overlooked.

Choose Reliable WordPress Hosting

Your hosting provider is the foundation of your new WordPress site. Look for:

• Performance: Fast loading speeds and uptime of 99.9% or higher.
• Security: Free SSL certificates (HTTPS) and built-in firewalls.
• Convenience: One-click WordPress installation and automatic daily backups.
• Support: 24/7 customer support with WordPress expertise.

📌 Recommended providers: Bluehost, SiteGround, and WP Engine are commonly recommended by WordPress.org because they are optimized specifically for WordPress. Cheap or unreliable hosting can cause site downtime, which directly hurts both user experience and Google rankings.

Install a Fresh WordPress Setup

Once you’ve secured hosting, install a clean version of WordPress. Most hosting dashboards (such as cPanel or a custom control panel) include a “WordPress Installer” or “One-Click Install” option.

• Install WordPress in the root directory of your domain unless you plan to build in a subdirectory for staging.
• Log in to confirm access to your WordPress admin panel at yourdomain.com/wp-admin.
• Do not install themes or plugins yet—keeping a clean slate avoids conflicts during the migration process.

💡 Pro tip: Some managed WordPress hosts provide staging environments. Use staging if available; it allows you to test your migrated site privately before going live.

Secure Full Access to Your Squarespace Account

Before exporting content, confirm you have Administrator-level access to your Squarespace site. Without this, you won’t be able to export pages, blog posts, or products.

• Log in to Squarespace and verify your account role.
• Review your site structure—note key pages, navigation menus, and blog categories.
• Record design elements such as colors, fonts, and layout styles if you plan to replicate the look in WordPress.
• Take screenshots of important layouts for future reference.

📌 Reminder: You cannot export everything from Squarespace automatically. Elements like custom CSS, and certain design blocks will need to be rebuilt manually in WordPress.

✅ At this point, you should have:

• A hosting account ready with WordPress installed.
• Admin-level access to Squarespace.
• A clear inventory of your existing site’s structure and design.

Step 2: Export Data from Squarespace

With your WordPress environment prepared, the next step is to extract your Squarespace data. Squarespace provides a built-in export tool, but it comes with limitations, not all site data is transferable. Understanding what gets exported (and what doesn’t) will save you time later.

What the Squarespace Export Includes

The WordPress-compatible XML file generated by Squarespace typically contains:

• Blog posts (including categories, tags, and comments)
• Static pages using standard layouts
• Image galleries

What the Export Excludes

Certain content types and settings cannot be transferred through the XML export:

• Event listings and calendars
• Product and store pages (eCommerce)
• Audio and video blocks
• Custom CSS or JavaScript
• Theme styles, design layouts, and settings

👉 Note: These excluded items must be recreated manually in WordPress or WooCommerce. This is often the most time-consuming part of the migration.

Export Core Data (XML File)

Follow these steps to create the XML export file:

• Log in to your Squarespace admin dashboard.
• Navigate to Settings → Advanced → Import/Export.
• Select Export, then choose the WordPress logo when prompted.
• Wait for the process to finish, then download the .xml file.

This XML file will be used in Step 3 to import your data into WordPress. Depending on site size, the export may time out. If that happens, try exporting during low-traffic hours or break the process into smaller chunks.

Export Product Data (for Online Stores)

If your Squarespace site includes an online store, product data must be exported separately:

• Go to Commerce → Inventory.
• Click Export All to download a .csv file containing your products.
• Download the WooCommerce sample data CSV from Github. Convert this CSV into a WooCommerce-compatible CSV format before import.

⚠️ Important: This conversion is usually manual. While there are third-party tools, accuracy and data integrity (such as SKU alignment, stock status, and product variations) are best ensured by carefully mapping columns yourself.

✅ By the end of this step, you should have:

• A Squarespace XML file containing blog posts, static pages, and galleries.
• A CSV file of products (if applicable) ready for conversion to WooCommerce.

Step 3: Import Data into WordPress

With your Squarespace data exported, the next step is to bring it into your new WordPress installation. This process transfers core content such as blog posts, standard pages, and image galleries into WordPress. While straightforward, accuracy here is essential to avoid missing media, broken links, or author mismatches.

Import Core Content (XML File)

Follow these steps to import your Squarespace XML file into WordPress:

• Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard (yourdomain.com/wp-admin).
• Go to Tools → Import.
• Under “WordPress” click Install Now to add the free WordPress Importer plugin.
• Once installed, click Run Importer.
• Upload the .xml file you exported from Squarespace.
• Assign content authors: Choose an existing WordPress user (such as yourself). Or create a new user to preserve author attribution.
• Check the box Download and import file attachments to transfer images and media files.
• Click Submit to start the import.

📌 Note: Depending on the size of your site, the process can take several minutes. Large imports may occasionally time out, if this happens, split your XML file or use a more robust import plugin (see below).

💡 Pro Tip: If you encounter repeated errors, consider using a more advanced tool such as WP All Import or FG Squarespace to WordPress. These plugins handle large data sets and complex structures more reliably than the default importer.

Post-Import Adjustments

Once the import finishes, your content will appear in Posts and Pages inside WordPress. However, expect discrepancies:

• Styling differences: WordPress does not replicate Squarespace’s design. Spacing, fonts, and image placement often need adjustment.
• Missing elements: Audio, video, or custom code (CSS/JavaScript) do not transfer automatically and must be re-added.
• Image links: Sometimes images are not fully imported. Check your Media Library and re-upload missing files if necessary.

👉 Action step: Review each page and post in the WordPress editor and apply your chosen theme’s templates for a consistent look.

Import Product Data (for eCommerce Sites)

If you ran a store on Squarespace, you’ll need to rebuild it in WordPress using WooCommerce:

• Install WooCommerce: Go to Plugins → Add New → Search for WooCommerce, install, and run the setup wizard.
• Go to WooCommerce → Products → Import.
• Upload the CSV file you exported from Squarespace in Step 2.
• (Optional, skip if done in step 2) Map the CSV fields to match WooCommerce’s product fields (e.g., title, price, SKU, stock, description).
• Click Run the Importer to complete the process.

⚠️ Important: If your store has product variations (sizes, colors, etc.), check them carefully after import. You may need to adjust attributes and variations manually to ensure they display correctly.

Verify Imported Data

After importing both content and products:

• Navigate to Posts and Pages in WordPress to confirm all core content is present.
• Review WooCommerce → Products to confirm product listings, pricing, and stock levels.
• Test internal links, image displays, and menus to identify broken or missing items.

📌 Reminder: WordPress is more flexible but less “plug-and-play” than Squarespace. Plan to spend time polishing formatting, applying your theme’s layouts, and re-adding missing media or code.

✅ At the end of this step, you should have:

• Blog posts, pages, and galleries imported into WordPress.
• WooCommerce installed with your product catalog imported.
• A functional but unstyled WordPress site, ready for theme setup and customization.

Step 4: Set Up Your Domain & Set Up 301 Redirects

To protect your search engine rankings during your Squarespace to WordPress migration, you need to properly configure your new site’s SEO settings and implement URL redirects. Failing to do this can result in broken links, traffic loss, or a drop in visibility on Google.

Configure SEO-Friendly URLs in WordPress

By default, WordPress uses “?p=123” query-style URLs, which are not search-friendly. To align your URLs with best SEO practices and closely match Squarespace’s structure:

• In your WordPress dashboard, go to Settings → Permalinks.
• Select Post name (e.g., yourdomain.com/blog/post-title).

📌 Note: This “Post name” structure is the most common choice for SEO. However, consider adding a category base (e.g., yourdomain.com/blog/post-title). This offers:

• Cleaner analytics in Google Search Console or Google Analytics, since you can filter performance by URL.
• Clearer content organization for both users and search engines.

Set Up 301 Redirects for Old Squarespace URLs

Squarespace and WordPress generate URLs differently. If you don’t redirect old URLs, users (and Google) will hit 404 errors, which hurts SEO.

To implement redirects:

• Install and activate the free Redirection plugin.
• Go to Tools → Redirection and set up 301 redirects.

Redirect your most valuable content first:

• Blog posts
• Landing pages
• Product pages

Test each redirect in your browser to confirm it resolves correctly.

💡 Pro tip: Connect your site to Google Search Console. It will flag any URLs still returning 404 errors, helping you catch missed redirects.

Point Your Domain to WordPress

Once your site is polished and redirects are ready, you need to make WordPress your live site:

• Log in to your domain registrar.
• Update your DNS records to point to your new WordPress host’s nameservers or A records.
• Allow 24–48 hours for DNS propagation worldwide.

📌 Important: Keep your Squarespace subscription active until the DNS switch fully propagates. This prevents downtime in case something goes wrong. Tools like whatsmydns.net can help you monitor DNS propagation globally.

After propagation is complete:

• Test both www and non-www versions of your site.
• Confirm HTTP → HTTPS redirects are working correctly (your SSL certificate should already be active via hosting).
• Check mobile and desktop access to ensure no caching or redirect loops.

✅ By completing this step, you will have:

• SEO-friendly permalinks set in WordPress.
• 301 redirects preserving your old Squarespace link equity.
• A live domain pointing to your new WordPress hosting.

Step 5: Optimize and Polish Your New WordPress Site

With your site live, finalize the migration by ensuring everything is secure, fast, and SEO-ready.

Post-Migration Quality Assurance Checklist:

• ✅ Content & Design Check: Review key pages for missing images, broken links, or layout issues.
• ✅ Redirects: Test old Squarespace URLs to confirm 301 redirects work.
• ✅ SEO Setup: Use Yoast SEO or Rank Math to generate a sitemap and submit it in Google Search Console.
• ✅ eCommerce Check: Optimize and edit WooCommerce product page as well as product parameters.
• ✅ Analytics: Confirm GA4 and any tracking codes are active.
• ✅ Security & Backups: Enable SSL, install a security plugin, and set up daily backups.
• ✅ Performance: Add a caching plugin and CDN for speed; compress images.
• ✅ Mobile & Browser Testing: Check your site across devices and browsers, using tools like PageSpeed Insights.

Completing these steps helps ensure your transfer from Squarespace to WordPress is stable, secure, and SEO-ready. Be sure to follow each one carefully, and always keep a full backup until the migration is complete and verified.

Need help? If you’d rather not handle the technical side, check out our All-in-One Migration Services or Contact Us for personalized assistance with your Squarespace to WordPress migration.