Squarespace's WordPress export moves basic pages, one blog and some images into a file WordPress can import. Product pages, your design, custom code and many content blocks stay behind. A Squarespace to WordPress migration that keeps the whole site uses the export for what it carries and rebuilds the rest from the live pages.
Squarespace is the one big site builder that offers a WordPress export at all, and it's a reasonable starting point. The trouble is the word "starting". Owners import the file, open the new site and find their blog without its images, their shop missing and their design gone, and decide WordPress is the problem.
It isn't. The export was only ever meant to carry part of the site. Here is what comes out of it, what doesn't, and how we rebuild a Squarespace site on WordPress without losing anything.
What does the Squarespace export include?
The export lives under Settings, then Import and Export, and produces an XML file in WordPress's import format. According to Squarespace's documentation, it carries:
- Basic pages
- One blog page and its posts
- Gallery pages
- Text, image and embed blocks inside those pages
That covers the words on a simple brochure site. For anything more, it's a partial copy.
What the export leaves behind
Squarespace lists the exclusions itself. The ones that matter most to a working business site are:
Products. Product pages and product blocks don't export. A store has to be moved separately, which for WordPress means WooCommerce.
A second blog. Only one blog page exports. A site with a news section and a recipes section loses one of them.
Design. Fonts, colors, spacing, the header and footer layout and any custom CSS belong to the Squarespace template, not to the content, so none of it travels.
Audio and video blocks, and much of the rest. Squarespace excludes audio and video blocks outright, and blocks like buttons, forms and newsletter signups don't arrive in WordPress as anything that works.
Images, in practice. The file references images, but many of those references still point at Squarespace's image servers. They display fine right after the import, which is why this one catches people. Cancel the subscription and they break.
How we rebuild a Squarespace site on WordPress
We use the export where it helps and the live site for everything else.
First, an inventory. We list every address on the site from its sitemap and a crawl of the live pages, with each page's title, search description, images, forms and embeds. That list is what the rebuild is checked against, and later what the redirects are checked against.
Then the design. Each section is rebuilt in the WordPress block editor with the same fonts, colors, spacing and image crops, so the site still reads as yours on a phone and a desktop.
Then the content. Pages and posts come across with their original dates, categories, authors and featured images. Every image is downloaded into the WordPress media library at full size, so nothing depends on Squarespace once you leave.
Then the moving parts. Forms are rebuilt with the same fields and the same recipient, and tested with a real submission. Newsletter signups connect to the service you already use. Products, variants and photos move to WooCommerce, quoted first because payments and orders need care.
Keeping your addresses, and your rankings
Squarespace puts blog posts under the blog page's own path, usually /blog/post-name. WordPress can use the same structure, so a post at /blog/summer-hours stays at /blog/summer-hours.
Where an address does have to change, like a product moving from Squarespace's store path to WooCommerce's /product/ path, it gets a permanent 301 redirect. Titles, search descriptions and image alt text carry over page by page. Once the domain points at the new site we submit the new sitemap to Google Search Console and watch the 404 log for the first weeks, adding a redirect for any address that turns up missing.
Acuity, member areas and other Squarespace extras
Acuity Scheduling works on any website. You keep your Acuity account, and we embed the same scheduler on the WordPress site.
Member areas move to a WordPress membership setup with the same gated pages. Because members have accounts and often payments, member sites are quoted before work starts.
Email campaigns sent from Squarespace don't move, but your subscriber list exports as a file that any email service, including Mailchimp or Kit, can import.
Your domain and Google Workspace
Many Squarespace sites now have their domain registered at Squarespace, including the domains that moved over from Google Domains. That domain is yours. We can point it at the new site from Squarespace, or move its DNS somewhere you'd rather manage it. Our guide to pointing a Squarespace domain to Cloudflare nameservers covers that second route in detail.
Either way, email records go first. Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 records are copied to wherever the domain will be managed before the website records change, so mail never stops. Keep the Squarespace subscription until the new site is live and checked, then cancel.
What TopSyde does, and what it costs
We rebuild your Squarespace site on WordPress and send a private preview link, usually within five business days. You compare it with the live site, ask for changes and decide.
For a typical business site the rebuild is free when you host with us at $89/mo per site, month to month. Stores, member areas, booking systems and sites over 30 pages get a fixed quote before any work starts. Hosting comes with updates, daily backups, daily malware scans, Auto SEO, AI edits and a person who answers when you write in. Still deciding? We compared what a five-page site costs on Wix, Squarespace and WordPress.
Send the address on our Squarespace to WordPress page and a senior developer will tell you within 2 business hours what's on the site and what comes across. Coming from somewhere else? Start here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I export my Squarespace site to WordPress myself?
Yes, for part of it. Squarespace's export gives WordPress your basic pages, one blog and gallery pages. Products, your design, custom CSS and many blocks stay behind, and images may still load from Squarespace until you download them.
Why are my images broken after importing from Squarespace?
The export often references images on Squarespace's servers rather than including them. They work until the subscription ends or the links change. Downloading each image into the WordPress media library and updating the posts fixes it.
Will I lose my SEO moving from Squarespace to WordPress?
Not if the addresses and page details carry over. Keep the /blog/ path for posts, redirect every address that changes with a 301, and carry over titles and descriptions. Expect a few weeks of movement, which is normal for any move.
Can I keep my Squarespace domain?
Yes. You can leave it registered at Squarespace and point it at the new site, or transfer it to another registrar once it's past the 60-day lock that follows a new registration or transfer.
How long does a Squarespace to WordPress move take?
We send a preview of a typical site within five business days. Stores and member areas take longer and are scheduled when they're quoted. The switch itself takes minutes.
Founder & Lead Developer
20+ years full-stack development, WordPress, AI tools & agents
Colton is the founder of TopSyde with 20+ years of full-stack development experience spanning WordPress, cloud infrastructure, and AI-powered tooling. He specializes in performance optimization, server architecture, and building AI agents for automated site management.
