Squarespace migration to WordPress is more tractable than moving from Wix because Squarespace actually provides a WordPress XML export. Your blog posts, basic pages, and some metadata move across automatically. The design doesn't, Squarespace templates are proprietary and won't transfer, but the content migration itself is significantly less manual than the Wix equivalent. Here's the full process from preparation through post-launch cleanup.
Before exporting anything, do a full crawl of your Squarespace site to capture all live URLs. Use Screaming Frog's free version (up to 500 URLs) or simply browse and document pages manually. Record every page URL, this becomes your redirect map. Also check Google Search Console for your most-linked and most-visited pages so you know which URLs are highest priority to redirect correctly.
Take screenshots of your key page layouts. Squarespace's section-based visual design doesn't export in any form, so screenshots serve as the reference document when rebuilding in WordPress. Note your current navigation structure, sidebar contents, and any custom code blocks you've added via Squarespace's code injection features, those need to be manually reproduced in WordPress.
Go to Squarespace Settings → Advanced → Import/Export → Export. Select WordPress as the export format. Squarespace generates a WordPress WXR (XML) file containing your blog posts, pages, categories, tags, authors, and basic metadata. Download the XML file and keep it safe, you'll import this into WordPress once the hosting is set up.
What the export contains: blog posts (body content, title, slug, author, date, categories, tags), standard pages (title and body), and embedded media references. What it doesn't contain: your visual layout, template design, navigation menus, sidebars, forms, gallery configurations, or eCommerce product data. Images are referenced as Squarespace CDN URLs within the export file rather than bundled as local files, handling those is a separate step after import.
One limitation of the Squarespace export: it handles content pages reasonably well but may not export certain page types at all, including portfolio pages, event pages, and products. For those content types, you'll need to manually recreate or find a dedicated migration approach.
Get your hosting in place first and install WordPress through your host's one-click installer or cPanel Softaculous. Before importing anything, go to Settings → Permalinks and set the structure to Post name (/%postname%/). This ensures WordPress generates post slugs based on the correct structure from the start, which matters for your redirect mapping later.
Import the Squarespace XML via Tools → Import → WordPress. WordPress will prompt you to install the WordPress Importer plugin if it isn't present, install and activate it, then run the import from that same screen. Assign posts to the correct author and check the "Download and import file attachments" checkbox during import. This attempts to pull images from Squarespace CDN directly, though success depends on Squarespace's CDN serving those URLs at the time of import.
Once the import completes, review a sample of your posts and pages. Check that content has come across cleanly, categories and tags are assigned correctly, and that post dates are preserved. Inline formatting from Squarespace's rich text editor sometimes needs adjustment in WordPress, particularly for content that used custom fonts or spacing applied via Squarespace's design panel.
Even if the importer attempted to download images, some will still be referencing Squarespace CDN URLs in the database. These will break when you cancel your Squarespace subscription. Use the "Auto Upload Images" or "Import External Images" plugin to scan your posts and pages for external image URLs and pull them into your WordPress media library.
After running the plugin, spot-check a range of posts, particularly older ones and those with multiple images. Any images that failed to transfer automatically (sometimes blocked by CDN settings) need to be downloaded manually and re-uploaded. If you have a large media library, allocate meaningful time to this step. Images that break after you cancel Squarespace leave you with broken pages and no easy way to recover them once the CDN URLs are deactivated.
Your Squarespace template doesn't transfer, but Squarespace's design sensibility, clean typography, generous whitespace, full-width section layouts, translates well to modern WordPress. The native block editor (Gutenberg) in current WordPress versions gives you column layouts, image blocks, spacer blocks, and button blocks that can recreate Squarespace-style pages without a page builder plugin.
If you need more layout control, Elementor Free or Kadence Blocks provide drag-and-drop functionality close to Squarespace's section-based editor. Kadence's free theme combined with Kadence Blocks is a particularly capable combination for design-focused sites. For each page, open your screenshot reference alongside the WordPress editor and recreate the layout section by section. Recreate navigation menus in Appearance → Menus, configure your header and footer via the theme customiser, and check every rebuilt page on mobile before moving on.
Galleries: Squarespace's gallery blocks are proprietary. Images transfer (via the CDN step above) but gallery layouts don't. Rebuild galleries using the WordPress Gallery block, or a dedicated plugin like Modula or FooGallery if you need lightbox, masonry, or slideshow functionality.
Forms: Squarespace forms don't export. Recreate them in WordPress using WPForms Lite (free, handles standard contact forms), Gravity Forms (paid, better for complex multi-step forms), or Ninja Forms. Configure notifications to the correct email addresses and test form submission before going live.
eCommerce: Squarespace Commerce products don't transfer via the WordPress XML export. Export product data from Squarespace under Commerce → Inventory → Export (CSV format). Install WooCommerce on WordPress and use its built-in CSV importer (Products → Import) to bring in product data. Product images need to be downloaded from Squarespace and re-uploaded to WooCommerce. For a small catalogue this is manageable; for hundreds of products consider a dedicated migration service.
Before switching DNS, lower your domain's TTL to 300 seconds at least 24 hours in advance. Map your old Squarespace URLs to your new WordPress URLs, Squarespace blog posts typically appear at /blog/post-slug, while WordPress with Post Name permalinks creates /post-slug. Install the Redirection plugin and create 301 redirects for every URL that has changed. Test redirects by entering old URLs and confirming they land on the correct WordPress page.
When your WordPress site is fully tested on its hosting environment, update your domain's DNS. If your domain is registered through Squarespace, you can update nameservers to point away from Squarespace, or transfer the domain to an external registrar first. Keep your Squarespace plan active until at least 48 hours after DNS propagation is confirmed, you may need to access original content or URLs during that window. Once live, install an SEO plugin, submit your XML sitemap in Google Search Console, and verify SSL is active on the new host. Do not cancel Squarespace until you've confirmed the WordPress site is operating correctly and all media is loading locally.
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