How to migrate from Wix to WordPress or another hosting

Migrating from Wix can mean three different things: recreating the website in WordPress or another application, hosting a new website while keeping the domain registered with Wix, or moving email. You do not need to do all three at once, and it is best to plan each one separately.

Wix confirms that a site created on its platform cannot be exported to be hosted directly with another provider, because it depends on its SaaS infrastructure. You keep your text, images and other content, but you have to rebuild the site or convert them to a system that works with the new hosting.

Before you start: identify what you want to move

Keep the domain at Wix and host the website at Hostsuar

You do not need to transfer a domain registered with Wix to host a new website here. The process is as follows:

1. First add the domain from the Domains section in cPanel and assign it the directory where the new website will be. See the guide to managing and setting up domains and subdomains.
2. Upload the website or install WordPress in that directory and check it works before changing the public records.
3. Get your server's IP address from the client area or cPanel.
4. In Wix's DNS management, change the main domain's A record so it points to that IP address and set www as a CNAME of the main domain. Wix documents this in Connecting a Wix domain to an external site.
5. Wait for DNS propagation and check the versions with and without www, HTTPS and the new website's forms.

If you keep the DNS at Wix, the authoritative zone stays there: any change made only in the cPanel zone editor will have no public effect. Do not change the MX, SPF, DKIM or other email records if the mailboxes are to stay with the current provider.

What happens to email bought through Wix

Email and the website are separate services. Before changing DNS, check the domain's MX records and which panel the mailboxes are actually managed from. Wix sells Google Workspace accounts, but email may also have been bought directly from Google or another provider.

You have two options:

• Keep Google Workspace: keep its MX and verification records when you point the website to the new hosting. If the subscription was bought through Wix, check their Google Workspace FAQs for how to transfer management to Google before cancelling the renewal at Wix.
• Migrate email to Hostsuar: first create the destination accounts, set up IMAP access and copy the messages before changing the MX records. For Google accounts you also need to follow the steps for moving Gmail accounts to Hostsuar.

Do not cancel the previous email service until you have checked that historical messages have been copied and that the new accounts send and receive correctly.

Options for migrating your Wix content

None of the following options produces an identical, complete copy of the Wix site. The design, forms, shop, bookings and other platform-specific features must be set up again in WordPress or the application you choose.

Conversion tools such as CMS2CMS

This manual used to mention CMS2CMS as an option for converting content. Before paying for a tool of this kind, confirm that it currently supports Wix as a source and your destination platform, which items it copies and which it leaves out. Do not take for granted that it is available, that there is a free demo or that posts and images will be recovered in full.

Try it with a sample and review the result before paying or giving access. No importer replaces the setup of the shop, bookings or integrations that depended on Wix.

Copying the Wix blog

Wix currently states that it does not allow Wix Blog posts to be exported to other platforms. The public RSS feed is not a complete export method and should not be relied on to migrate all posts, images, authors, categories or metadata.

Keep a copy of the text and images and move the posts by hand or with a specialised tool whose output you can review. Check the URLs, images, categories, dates, authors and redirects one by one before cancelling Wix.

Importing content into cPanel's Sitejet builder

Sitejet Builder is the website builder built into cPanel. It is a versatile tool for creating a website easily and also has a content import tool that copies images and text into the library. It is not a perfect system and how well the text is copied will depend on many factors, but you will have a base to work with, saving time and effort.

Importing text and images gives you working material: on its own it does not keep the structure, design or features of Wix.

Generating a static HTML version

A download of the public pages can serve as a reference or a partial archive. It is not the same as exporting the Wix application and does not guarantee a website ready to publish on another hosting.

Tools such as HTTrack and Cyotek WebCopy can download the public resources they manage to crawl and generate a static HTML structure. The result may miss pages, resources or links, and dynamic features such as forms, shop, bookings or private areas will not work.

This copy can be useful as a base while you work on the final website, or for a developer to use as a template when converting it into a custom build.

Rebuilding the website by hand

Manual migration means copying and pasting your Wix site's content by hand into your new platform. This method can be tedious and time-consuming, but it gives you the most control over how and where your content is placed.

Although this method is usually the last resort, it can be useful for small business websites where the content is limited. You can use this migration to refresh your site's design with a new template on your new platform, without having to create text and images again.

Keep the URLs that receive visits

Make a list of the current pages, especially those that receive traffic or links, and assign each one an equivalent URL on the new site. Keep the address where possible and set up a permanent redirect when it changes. Do not send all the old URLs to the home page: each page should lead to the content that meets the same need.

Checks before cancelling Wix

Review the new website page by page, keep a copy of the original text and images, and check forms, links, redirects, analytics and search rankings. Also check that the domain and email are managed by the providers you intended and that you know their renewal dates.

Cancel the Wix website only when the new version works with the final domain. If you are also moving the domain or email, wait for those processes to finish and confirm that they do not depend on the subscription you want to cancel.